Alcohol and the Territory: Amity’s contribution to the Northern Territory Government’s Alcohol Polices and Legislation Review

“No matter what time of the day or night … one can find, in and around some of the hotels of Darwin, idlers sitting about, or bar loungers and beer ‘chasers’ quaffing the ‘cup that cheers’, ‘spitting and blaspheming’. … Darwin hotels …. are the scenes of orgies that would bring despair to the heart of the bravest temperance reformer. .. I have stood by and heard the maniacal howls of drink distempered men, men in physique only – in all else beasts – yelling curses and imprecations in a babel of tongues. In fact it is a common Darwin cosmopolitan scene.” Extract from Hansard, Thursday, 15 March 1917

Even in the midst of World War 1 problematic alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory was exercising the minds of Politicians.

The Territory has a long history of alcohol consumption and related harms. We experience these harms because of the amount of alcohol we consume as a community and a deeply embedded culture of drinking.

The Territory has previously shown that we can impact on alcohol harms in a positive and non- judgemental way through effective leadership, policy and collaboration, for example The Living with Alcohol Program. If we are to achieve change that is sustainable it will be from planned long-term commitment that receives broad political and community support and is appropriately resourced with the focus on harm minimisation.

Our Belief:
Health is not the absence of disease - it’s a complete state of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. Like the World Health Organisation, we see health as a resource for life and not itself the object of living. Health is the product of structural and social determinants. We believe that habits are normal, functional, learned responses to specific situations and these responses are a combination of cognitive, environmental and behavioural patterns. We recognise that some habits may have negative outcomes and it is a choice to learn how to change habits and build resilience.